Silversea Shadow Bumps Booked Passengers in Favor of Charter

Seems like money talks when luxury liner Silversea Shadow celebrity cruise line cancelled its planned cruise in favour of a charter that wanted the ship on the same itinerary but wanted it without other passengers. So where does this leave someone that has scrimped and saved for this particular cruise? Literally up the creek without a paddle. Colleen McDaniel from the cruise critic continues…

Sure, it’s rare, but it can happen to you, just the way it did to Monty Preiser who had booked back-to-back Asian cruises on board Silversea Shadow, sailing in October 2013.”

Silversea Shadow gives you the wide berth

As always there are two sides of every story and there is always a loser – Collen McDaniel

“He booked the cruises — a 10-night cruise from Shanghai to Tokyo and a 12-night cruise from Tokyo to Hong Kong — in 2012. Then, this week, Preiser’s travel agent called to say Silversea had canceled the first leg of his cruise to accommodate a charter.

Worse, Preiser said he hasn’t been offered compensation for his out-of-pocket expenses, and, “in fact it was refused when I said I had expenses,” he wrote in an email to Cruise Critic. He said the only offer from Silversea was to be put on another cruise“.

For my own personal experience with P&O I was 2 days shy of meeting their required time for changes to the itinerary as my husband had to have unplanned surgery which would of meant that he would be in the operating theatre the day that we would sail. We then found out how unbending that P&O were from then on.

What I did was ring them and explained the situation let me reiterate I did not want my money back I only wanted to transfer to another cruise when my husband was well enough to travel. I was met with a “no” if you don’t go you will lose your money. I mean to say that giving 142 days notice was well in advance and I could of supplied doctors certificates etc…all to no avail. To this very day it sticks in my gut that I gave P&O $1800 for nothing.

Silversea Shadow explains further:

“A Silversea spokeswoman offered a differing view. Confirming that, indeed, the cruise had been canceled to charter for a corporate client, she added that passengers who already had been booked on the cruise had the option of switching to another 2013 sailing with a 10 percent discount. Passengers who don’t want to take advantage of the offer could receive refunds.

She also said passengers who had arranged air and hotel independently should contact the Silversea reservations department, and “the company will take their situation under review.”

Cruise critic continues…”Here’s the rub: Cruise lines can bump passengers from a cruise for any reason. And while canceling cruises in favor of charters might not be common, it’s certainly not unheard of. In February 2007, Norwegian Dawn passengers found themselves bounced from a July 2007 sailing after the line chartered a cruise involving Rosie O’Donnell. In January 2008, Celebrity Solstice bumped confirmed passengers in favor of a March 2009 charter with Atlantis Events. More recently, the cruise line Fred. Olsen canceled three sailings and rescheduled four others so it could a accommodate workers at the 2012 London Olympic Games.”

And Cruise lines aren’t required to provide compensation which I found ridiculous and I ask you do you think its fair to be bumped for a charter? I know that airlines overbook all the time and when you get to the ticket desk with luggage, kids screaming and the partner looking a little over it when they tell you that you will need to go on the following plane!

Do you think that Silversea Shadow or any other cruise line should have a no compensation policy, I would love to know your thoughts. Have you ever been on a Silversea Shadow cruise and this has happened to you?